CHOLET, France: Stefan Schumacher came to the Tour de France with goals similar to those of many other riders: "A stage win and a day wearing the yellow jersey would be fine," the German, who rides for the Gerolsteiner team, said this year.
On Tuesday, he achieved one goal, with a remarkable 18-second victory in the first of two time trials, a 29.5 kilometer, or 18.3 mile, individual race against the clock.
The second goal will be reached on Wednesday, when Schumacher dons the yellow jersey for the longest stage of the 95th Tour de France, a 232-kilometer mostly-flat ride from Cholet to Chateauroux.
Schumacher is known primarily as a strong rider in long one-day races and short prologues, so while he was expected to challenge for a stage victory at the Tour, few people here expected that a win would come in a time trial.
But he was the fastest rider on every part of the windblown course, finishing 18 seconds ahead of both Kim Kirchen of Team Columbia, who registered his third second-place finish in four stages this year, and David Millar of Garmin-Chipotle.
Cadel Evans of Silence-Lotto was fourth, 27 seconds back, and Fabian Cancellara, the world time trial champion, was fifth, more than half a minute behind Schumacher.
The victory put Schumacher 12 seconds ahead of both Kirchen and Millar in the overall competition. Evans was in fourth place, 21 seconds back.
It was a sweet victory for Schumacher and his Gerolsteiner team, which has been unsuccessfully looking for a new sponsor for several months.
But it also raised the subject of doping for the first time on the Tour this year.
Last September, about a week after the world championships, Schumacher crashed his car after leaving a disco. He was found to be over the legal limit for alcohol and tested positive for amphetamines.
Because the test was a police test and not one overseen by cycling's anti-doping squads, Schumacher was not suspended from racing or barred from participating in the Tour this year.
His case stands in contrast to that of Tom Boonen, the Belgian star of the Quick Step team, who tested positive for cocaine in May in an out-of-competition anti-doping test.
Cocaine is not specifically banned except during competition in cycling. Because Boonen's positive result was in an out-of-competition test, he was not suspended from racing. But the Tour de France organizers nevertheless told his team that Boonen would not be welcome at the Tour.
At a post-race press conference Tuesday, Schumacher said his case and Boonen's "are not the same."
Schumacher has long maintained that he did not take any amphetamines and did not know how they got into his bloodstream.
He also noted that Boonen's positive test was part of an anti-doping control, while his was not.
"Boonan didn't respect the rules," he said. "I drove drunk in a car and I am really not proud of it. I'm a public person and I have to be an example for others. But I didn't take drugs."
Like all stage winners and wearers of the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, Schumacher was subjected to anti-doping tests on Tuesday, although the results will not be known for several days and will only be announced in the case of a positive test.
In September, Gerolsteiner, a German mineral water company, said it would not renew its sponsorship of the team, citing its shift in focus from mineral water to "natural non-alcoholic beverages" and its feeling that doping problems had served "to temporarily devalue cycling sports as a communication platform."
Schumacher said he was optimistic that the team would find a new sponsor.
He also said that he had no illusions about being able to keep the yellow jersey for very long or to wear it on the final day in Paris.
"We'll fight for it," Schumacher said. "I think it is possible to keep the jersey for tomorrow."
But the following day's stage, which ends with a climb to the ski resort at Super-Besse, "will be very difficult."
For an idea how difficult it can be to hold on to the yellow jersey, ask Romaine Feillu, the Agritubel rider who captured the yellow jersey on Monday as part of an aggressive breakaway. He essentially lost it on Tuesday before he was one-third of the way through the time-trial course.
While Feillu predicted on Monday that the yellow jersey would give him wings in the time trial, his effort in the breakaway on Monday apparently left him with little strength to flap them. Feillu lost nearly 5 minutes to the stage winner, finishing 169th out of 178 riders still in the race.
Failed test trails a rider as he races into Tour de France lead
CHOLET, France: Stefan Schumacher came to the Tour de France with goals similar to those of many other riders: "A stage win and a day wearing the yellow jersey would be fine," the German, who rides for the Gerolsteiner team, said this year.
On Tuesday, he achieved one goal, with a remarkable 18-second victory in the first of two time trials, a 29.5 kilometer, or 18.3 mile, individual race against the clock.
The second goal will be reached on Wednesday, when Schumacher dons the yellow jersey for the longest stage of the 95th Tour de France, a 232-kilometer mostly-flat ride from Cholet to Chateauroux.
Schumacher is known primarily as a strong rider in long one-day races and short prologues, so while he was expected to challenge for a stage victory at the Tour, few people here expected that a win would come in a time trial.
But he was the fastest rider on every part of the windblown course, finishing 18 seconds ahead of both Kim Kirchen of Team Columbia, who registered his third second-place finish in four stages this year, and David Millar of Garmin-Chipotle.
Cadel Evans of Silence-Lotto was fourth, 27 seconds back, and Fabian Cancellara, the world time trial champion, was fifth, more than half a minute behind Schumacher.
The victory put Schumacher 12 seconds ahead of both Kirchen and Millar in the overall competition. Evans was in fourth place, 21 seconds back.
It was a sweet victory for Schumacher and his Gerolsteiner team, which has been unsuccessfully looking for a new sponsor for several months.
But it also raised the subject of doping for the first time on the Tour this year.
Last September, about a week after the world championships, Schumacher crashed his car after leaving a disco. He was found to be over the legal limit for alcohol and tested positive for amphetamines.
Because the test was a police test and not one overseen by cycling's anti-doping squads, Schumacher was not suspended from racing or barred from participating in the Tour this year.
His case stands in contrast to that of Tom Boonen, the Belgian star of the Quick Step team, who tested positive for cocaine in May in an out-of-competition anti-doping test.
Cocaine is not specifically banned except during competition in cycling. Because Boonen's positive result was in an out-of-competition test, he was not suspended from racing. But the Tour de France organizers nevertheless told his team that Boonen would not be welcome at the Tour.
At a post-race press conference Tuesday, Schumacher said his case and Boonen's "are not the same."
Schumacher has long maintained that he did not take any amphetamines and did not know how they got into his bloodstream.
He also noted that Boonen's positive test was part of an anti-doping control, while his was not.
"Boonan didn't respect the rules," he said. "I drove drunk in a car and I am really not proud of it. I'm a public person and I have to be an example for others. But I didn't take drugs."
Like all stage winners and wearers of the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, Schumacher was subjected to anti-doping tests on Tuesday, although the results will not be known for several days and will only be announced in the case of a positive test.
In September, Gerolsteiner, a German mineral water company, said it would not renew its sponsorship of the team, citing its shift in focus from mineral water to "natural non-alcoholic beverages" and its feeling that doping problems had served "to temporarily devalue cycling sports as a communication platform."
Schumacher said he was optimistic that the team would find a new sponsor.
He also said that he had no illusions about being able to keep the yellow jersey for very long or to wear it on the final day in Paris.
"We'll fight for it," Schumacher said. "I think it is possible to keep the jersey for tomorrow."
But the following day's stage, which ends with a climb to the ski resort at Super-Besse, "will be very difficult."
For an idea how difficult it can be to hold on to the yellow jersey, ask Romaine Feillu, the Agritubel rider who captured the yellow jersey on Monday as part of an aggressive breakaway. He essentially lost it on Tuesday before he was one-third of the way through the time-trial course.
While Feillu predicted on Monday that the yellow jersey would give him wings in the time trial, his effort in the breakaway on Monday apparently left him with little strength to flap them. Feillu lost nearly 5 minutes to the stage winner, finishing 169th out of 178 riders still in the race.
